Nan-fang ts'ao-mu chuang. A Fourth Century Flora of Southeast Asia. 1979. 39 figs. X, 168 p. Cloth.- In English.

This is an important early treatise on the plants of southeast Asia and reputed to be the oldest work on subtropical and tropical botany. The work deals with some 80 plants and plant products of southern China and the Indo-Chinese peninsula around the early 4th century A.D.

Well known andf requently cited in the Chinese literature in the past, it is noted for its historicl significance by many Western authors in modern times. The historian L.C.Goodrich calls it "a rich mine of information for historians of cultivated plants".

Professor Li gives this work its first complete translation into a Western language. An attempt is made to botanically accurately identify all of the plants according to the latest knowledge about the flora of southeast Asia. Extensive commentaries are also made on the botanical and ethnological significance of the plants and products mentioned. Many interesting and hitherto little-known facts are revealed and further elucidated upon, with the historical record constantly being examined from a scientificstandpoint.

Second hand copy.